"Don't expect miracles" This was the characteristically pragmatic declaration by Spain's new Prime Minister-elect, in his victory speech in Madrid last night. Mariano Rajoy's Partido Popular romped home to an overwhelming victory in the elections, winning even more seats than predicted - 186, to…

    Unless you don't live here in Spain, you will be aware that this Sunday is the General Election. Both major parties have been campaigning, but without much excitement, since it's obvious that the current opposition, the PP (Partido Popular, Popular Party) is going to…

This is the new slogan of the Junta de Andalucia, directed at British tourists, who are the most important market for this area. The Junta's tourism department wants to make Andalucia into the "second home" for Brits. The Tourism Minister, Luciano Alonso, said that while there was a big demand…

If you didn't know that there's a car museum in Malaga - the Museo Autovilístico (and not that many people do, it only opened a year ago) - then you'll be even more surprised to hear that it also has a fashion section—an extensive collection of vintage designer hats, which were so essential for…

Seville European Film Festival 2011 It started last Friday, 4 November, and the Seville Festival de Cine Europeo (#SEFF on Twitter) will be showing the best new films from around Europe until this Friday, 11 November. The special guest country this year is Russia, with the…

Seville's Tourism Figures Things are looking up for tourism in Seville. The latest visitor figures are very positive, possibly due to the unrest in North Africa causing would-be travellers to countries like Morocco to divert to southern Spain, the closest climate and architecture-wise. Love…

Twitter and Facebook dominate Spanish social media As an avid time-waster user of social media, I was very excited to be delivered of a brand new iPhone yesterday (4 - they're giving them away, literally, now the 4S is out; mine was…

Mini-romeria Yesterday was our local mini-romeria - the main one took place a few weeks ago, with the whole town being decorated with brightly coloured paper, and streams of elegantly dressed horsemen and women on their thoroughbreds processing down to Hacienda de Torrijos…

The Duquesa and the bobadas Yesterday was the official launch day for the Duquesa de Alba's much-anticipated autobiography, Yo, Cayetana. Sadly, the event had to be cancelled when the Duchess had an unfortunate accident. She fell at her home, Palacio de las Dueñas in Seville, and…

Seville goes eco Last week, Seville hosted its first-ever eco-show - Eco Sevilla. It took place at Fibes, the Conference and Exhibition Centre (new wing opening imminently), from Friday to Sunday. Over 80 stands brought a variety of organic and environmentally-friendly…